When the Full Moon Cometh
by KyuubiKid2468
Summary: The Akatsuki are werewolf hunters. Naruto was living a relatively happy life with his family before they came to call. Now with his family dead he is taken under the wing of his godfather. They move from town to town but no matter where they are the Akatsuki always seem to find them. What will happen when there is no where left to run? rated T because I don't know
1. When the Akatsuki Come to Call

Ok so this is my second story. I know I should probably finish the first before starting this but I needed a change of scene. I am still writing the other one so there is no need to worry

I don't own Naruto

When the Akatsuki Come to Call

It was a dark stormy night. The wind rocked the trees, often ripping them from their purchase in the muddy forest. The rain pounded against closed windows of small wooden houses.

The occupants had gathered inside when they caught sight of the approaching cumulonimbus, squishing together in their living rooms to comfort their children. Not a soul dared venture outside, save for a small group of cloaked men marching past streets of shuttered homes.

It was good for the villagers that they had been forced inside because all within the allied nations knew of and feared these men. It was not who the men were or their beastly nature that terrified the villagers-though that was certainly a part of it. No, it was what they did that caused the people to cower in street corners and stammer in fear if they were questioned. Supposedly these men kept the peace of the nations beside the kings rule.

The people believed this of course. If a family were torn apart in front of their eyes they would not sway from their treasured position as bystanders. The men were hunters of a greater evil: the werewolf. People shuddered at the mere thought, crossing themselves for cleansing before moving on. The organisation called themselves the Akatsuki.

For what was said about the werewolves, few of them were the evil beings they were portrayed as.

The men continued their march through the soaked street, their waterproof cloaks offering welcome protection from the storm.

"How much further?"

Murmured the man in front. He was shrouded in an air of superiority, singling him out as the undisputed leader of the group.

"It's just round this next corner."

Haku, his junior by 12 years, spoke in a whisper, worried of being heard by the boy they sought. It was said monsters could hear a conversation from miles away and although he had the rain as a cover, being this close unnerved him.

They had no intel on the boy; not even a description. He had been very careful.

They crept down towards his house in complete silence, weapons at the ready. Inside they could see a slight glow from a candle but no silhouettes lined the curtains.

The leader stepped back as his men approached the door and with a bang that had been considerably muffled by the storm they kicked it down, a pair of terrified eyes stared out at them from the hallway.

Upstairs in his room a boy with short spiky blond hair started and dropped the book he had been reading.

He heard the loud BANG as the door was forced open and his mother's shrill scream, which was abruptly cut off. His father entered the room and the man's searching eyes quickly found his own. He took fast long strides and swept him up in his arms for a brief hug.

"They're here", he whispered urgently into his ear. "You must get out quickly; I will do what I can to delay them. Climb down the hedge outside your window and run, you know where to go."

He kissed the boy's cheek and set him back onto his 10 year old legs. The child looked at his father with blurry eyes, taking strength from his confident face.

He did not see the pained expression his father gave him as he turned away, nor the tear that ran down to his whiskered cheek.

He grabbed his warmest cloak and the travelling bag that had always been ready and waiting by the wall and slipped out the window. Wind and rain gusted through the bedroom and battered against the man's face. He hurried to the window and forced it shut but the barrage of weather had attracted the notice of the men down stairs.

He heard them run up the old wood, the fifth stair groaning as they each set their weight upon it, and then saw their expressionless faces appear in the doorway.

As they came towards him he put up his hands to defend himself but it was to no avail. He was easily brought down to his knees and a gun was placed at his neck, it pushed his throat up as they 'encouraged' him to look at them.

"Where is he?" barked the man with the gun. He kept his lips sealed, knowing that this was one secret he would never give away. The men above him murmured for a moment before he was pulled to his feet and pushed back down the stairs and into the kitchen, where his wife and youngest son were sitting with terrified eyes.

His wife looked up with questioning eyes when he entered, and he nodded minutely to ease her fears. She sighed in relief before scooting slightly closer to their second child.

"We think the boy went out the window sir; there was no sign of any one else upstairs."

"You lot," his voice boomed out into the silence as he addressed a group of cloaked individuals standing to attention by the door, "get out there and search, I want him found now!" The men hurried to comply with his order.

The young boy, having finished manoeuvring himself down the weather beaten vines that ran down the side of their house, raced across the garden and into the forest outside.

He heard the back door crash open as he dodged round the thick trees. He was sheltered from the rain somewhat but his clothes were already soaked through. Thankfully the adrenaline pumping through his veins and the forced exertion were enough to keep him warm.

Raised voices came from behind as they spied his figure racing through the bark. They were gaining on him; he could hear their boots behind him but could not judge the distance. They were trained to be quiet and sneaky but he could be also.

He quietened his steps but did not slow down, like a startled animal disappearing into the undergrowth. Knowing that if he kept running they were more likely to see him, he burrowed his way under a bush and lay still.

Please R&R


	2. When the Worst Comes to Pass

When the Worst Comes to Pass

The men were spreading out, searching in the bushes and scanning the thick boughs of the trees surrounding them. Naruto didn't move a muscle praying that the men moved away from his position under the holly bush – ouch.

He wished he had recognised it for what it was before he'd stopped to wriggle into it but sadly, in the dark, stormy night its nature had been concealed from his eyes. His heightened senses had missed the sharp edges of the leaves, and the scent had been washed into the ground.

He managed to find himself lucky, however, in the midst of this terrifying nightmare. When the men brushed past his bush they flinched and shuffled away slightly, not even considering that he would have wormed himself into such an uncomfortable place.

Slowly the men moved further into the forest and as the noise of rustling bushes moved to a safe distance, he relaxed his shoulders and let out a sigh of relief.

He was just considering how best to exit the spiky plant when a small squirrel- crawling out from its hole in a tree- stiffened suddenly and raced back to safety.

The hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stood on end and he silently pressed himself lower into the wet forest floor.

He scanned his surroundings with wide eyes, trying to see through the gaps in the leaves around him.

Suddenly a boot stepped noiselessly into view. Whoever this man was, he was a hundred times stealthier than those before him. Better even than Naruto himself.

Naruto followed the shoe up, travelling up from the hem of a damp black cloak and finding a dark hole in the hood high above him.

The hole was moving slowly from left to right, passing over the trees and undergrowth, looking for a sign. As the hood came to rest in the direction of Naruto's bush, Naruto saw a gleam of red from within its depth.

Hood's POV

Inwardly the man cursed the foolishness of his companions. Their boots had crushed all the foliage around the woods and there was no longer any way to distinguish their footprints from the werewolf's (damn them!) Before reaching the forest he had just about been able to pick out the smaller prints from that of the large boots that had tracked it; now that was all but impossible.

The boy obviously knew how to hide; he had trodden lightly once he had switched from fleeing to hiding. The mud slicked ground certainly didn't help tracking. Then they had gone and trodden all over it! Did these men have nothing but cow fodder for brains?!

He looked over the prints once more; then stopped as he saw a lone print on a patch of otherwise untouched mud. It was small and shallow, hardly visible save to those who knew what they were looking for.

As he stepped closer his practised eyes picked out the slightly deeper indentation where the toe had pressed into the ground to stop momentum.

The boy had stopped here, presumably to search for a place to hide and then…? He could not see anything more nearby. This meant that he had _most likely _walked slowly and carefully to his chosen cover; which was probably relatively close. If not he would've had to move faster and there might've been more prints to track.

Mind you that could easily have been explained by the barrage of boots that had stampeded by moments later.

He almost sighed as he thought of how much_ easier_ it would have been had he kept everyone else behind him.

A quiet rustling came from behind him and he spun around, dagger inching out from under his cloak. He huffed slightly and slid it back in again. His stillness had worn out a small rabbit crouching by a tree and the creature had decided to run for it.

He was thinking about trying to wait out the infected boy that may or may not have been hiding nearby. A shout from the men ahead convinced him otherwise and he silently ran on.

Naruto's POV

Naruto couldn't breathe as the man wandered closer to his bush. He was only a few feet away now and Naruto was sure that he would be spotted any minute. The man seemed to be studying a patch of mud; the blonde almost gasped as he saw the faint outline of a footprint on it.

How could he have been so stupid! He should have hidden further away and given more thought to covering his tracks.

Many a curse ran through Naruto's mind as he watched the man look around once more; his musings unperceivable to the outside world. He could see a red gleam emanating from somewhere inside the hood.

A rabbit was cowering under the tree next to him and Naruto saw his chance. He flicked a small seed out through a small hole in the holly leaves. The seed skittered quietly over the wet leaves by the rabbit's feet and immediately it bolted from the perceived threat, the noise – while impossible for human ears to pick out under the pattering of raindrops from the calming storm – was enough to convince the rabbit that its hiding spot had been compromised.

The man whirled around, pulling a hidden dagger from the confines of his dark cloak. Naruto stiffened once more, hoping his movements had been impossible to notice from the man's position. After a short moment the man relaxed and a few minutes later he disappeared towards a well -timed shout from his cohorts.

Naruto allowed himself to relax once more before beginning to disentangle his person from the branches around him.

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He stared down his nose at the small family huddled at his feet. They had been there for a while now, unmoving and sending each other comforting and yet somewhat hopeless looks. For as hopeless as they knew their situation was, they seemed highly confident of their first born's safety.

He wanted to know why.

They had been questioning them for half an hour now a still none of them were willing to give a straight forward answer. All members of the family were sporting various cuts and a few broken bones and yet all they had found out was that the youngest son most likely new nothing about the situation. Death threats had also come up with a negative.

He mentally sighed and pulled out his sword. He had been planning to save this for when they had caught the boy so that he could be mad to suffer his existence…but if threats weren't working…

He focused once again on the man at his feet and before anyone could even blink an eye; his sword had sliced through the man's chest. He had purposely missed the heart to make for a slower death, partly to vent his frustration and partly because it often made for looser mouths.

The woman cried out in distress but her expression did not change much overall, she knew they were going to die tonight and had been grieving her losses from the beginning. It didn't look like he would get anything from her.

He removed his sword from the man with an odd squelching sound and signalled to his men. As they sliced into the woman he advanced on the young boy.

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Naruto watched in horror as his father was struck down.

He had doubled round and crept up to the front of the house, thinking that he could wait for all of the large men to disperse so that he could show his parents he was ok. He had never considered….

Tears welled up in his eyes and he sunk to the wet ground under the window bay. From inside the house he could pick out his mother's cries as she watched his father fall. He could hear the squelched of the sword being withdrawn and the scuffle of boots across the hardwood floor.

He covered his ears with his hands but they were too sensitive; he could clearly hear the other men draw their swords over the sound of the driving rain. He wished he were anywhere else.

'_Help them you idiot! Get up! Distract them!'_

The thoughts ran round a d round his head. Even as he thought them his body was folding deeper into the crouch, pressing harder against the slick cobblestones.

'_I can't do it'._

He was close to wailing in despair. The only thing he could do as another sword met its mark, was to crawl out from under the window and dash into an alleyway around the corner.

'_Just get away. Get away so I can't hear them any longer' _He knew where to go.

He sprinted through the streets as fast as his little legs could carry him. He was small for his age, apparently. He rarely saw other kids except from when the skipped past his window with their friends, or when they all slept together on a large mattress.

He watched them on his night time excursions, pretending that he was with them. Sleeping on a mattress surrounded by friends…. He didn't go out during the day in case anyone looked too close and discovered what he was.

It wasn't exactly hard, he had long whisker like scars on his cheeks and slit pupils which gave an animalistic impression. The scars were not a usual trait of werewolves. His parents had never been able to figure out why he had them but then, the circumstances of his contracting the virus weren't exactly normal either.

Nevertheless his family had done all they could to keep him from feeling lonely, his brother had become his best friend. He didn't need anyone else. He never had!

Apart from now.

At that thought the sight of his father's dying body refilled his mind. He almost collapsed to the ground at the thought but he knew that if he was going to stay free then he had to carry on.

His father had always told him that if the worst came to pass and there was no place for him to return to, he was to run as fast as he could to a small cottage near the other end of town. A rather thickset man lived there. He had come over to Naruto's house often and they had always had lots of fun together.

So Naruto ran down the alleys, taking the route that his father had pointed out to him time and time again, forcing it into his memory so that he could save himself if the need arose.

He was close now. Just a few blocks away. Right at this corner and again at the next, then left at the tightly locked bakery. The house sat atop a small hill, reached by a narrow winding path that snaked up the front. He left the cover of the tight nit houses to begin the small climb.

When he reached the top he tried to stretch out a hand to knock on the scarlet painted door but the shock of the day was finally catching up with him.

With a small sigh his small frame thumped against the door as his consciousness gave out.

A few seconds later the door crept open and the owner huffed in surprise.

"Well" he murmured as he picked up the trembling body. "We're in a pickle". He turned back into the house and pulled the door shut with a red sandaled foot.


End file.
